Wednesday was time for more Disney Theme Parks. We started the morning at the Animal Kingdom. In the past I've been pretty tough on this park. I've said things like:
No, seriously, I think this park is very flawed. Really, there's frighteningly little to do. We did every attraction (sans Camp Minnie Mickey - don't get me started on that) and were done by lunchtime. True, it seemed like we saw more animals than ever before, in fact, at park opening they had Cast Members out front with cages of bugs and birds and the like, trying to distract you from looking at your park map and discovering there are no rides in the park!
But in order to get this park up to snuff they have to really stress the education angle. I know, I know, they tried that with Epcot and (they say) nobody liked it. Now they're replacing all of the good attractions with crap like Test Track. But at it's core the Animal Kingdom is all about learning. We go on their little safari ride and learn about the animals, yay. But that whole bit about the poachers at the end? Cripes. Don't give us lame drama. We're smarter than that.
If you teach people in the right way they might not even notice that they're learning. If you do it in a fun way, well, everyone wins.
I always forget just how big the Tree of Life is.
Huge. Simply huge.
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Dad and Mom on the Kali River Rapids.
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Me, Mom, Daniel and Arielle in front of the Tree of Life.
(Photo by Dad)
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Dan and Arielle.
Daniel out front with that whole Leave a Legacy thing.
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Imagination at sunset.
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This is how Spaceship Earth is supposed to look.
(Old Disney publicity photo from the 80s.)
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Last Updated on: May 27, 2002
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